A table like this is quite a practical thing. It is the same for everyone, nothing is negotiable. Whoever wins gets three points. For a draw you get one point, and whoever loses gets nothing. These are the rules that everyone has agreed on, but the problem that SpVgg Greuther Fürth has right now is that there is also a second table – a perceived one that is not advertised anywhere, but does exist.
It’s not really a good thing if you’re higher up in the perceived table than in the real one, because it’s the real one that counts. The fact that it is not so good to be lower in the perceived table than in the real one is shown in Fürth. In the end it just depends on the feeling. And the feeling isn’t good right now. Or rather: it’s pretty bad.
The Fürth team has 13 points after eleven games. That’s not a result that would make you dance for joy on the Green Market in the old town – but it’s not the record of a potential relegation either. Only: In what feels like the table, Fürth is second to last. At least. Behind them at most is FC Schalke 04, but Schalke have now progressed to the point where they shouldn’t even be a benchmark in the second division anymore.
It’s come to this. At Schalke – but also in Fürth. The 4-0 defeat two weeks ago in the Frankenderby against 1. FC Nürnberg not only cost coach Alexander Zorniger his job, but also managing director Rachid Azzouzi. And since last weekend’s 5-1 defeat against SV Darmstadt 98, the mood has been in that basement where the team is not yet in the table.
The departure of managing director Azzouzis was not something he could have predicted either, reveals successor Fürstner
It wasn’t that long ago that one could actually have the fantasy that something would happen again at the gaming association. After the first four games, the team had eight points and was third. And in Zorniger, a coach who stood for something, a young team, Azzouzi, who had the place under control – something could have happened. But after the 4-0 win in Regensburg at the end of August, nothing happened.
When Fürth went back to Upper Palatinate last week, lost 1-0 and was eliminated from the DFB Cup, different times had long since dawned. And on Saturday, after the debacle against Darmstadt, a low point was reached. Now Stephan Fürstner says: “The situation is not yet threatening, but we have to recognize the signs of the times. The trend must sharpen the senses because we simply still have too many swings in our performance.”
Fürstner, 37, is actually the head of the youth academy, but is now also Azzouzi’s successor. He will hold the position of sporting director until the winter break and in this role will work closely with interim coach Leo Haas, Zorniger’s heir. Together with managing director Holger Schwiewagner, the driving force behind the reorganization, Fürstner and Haas are supposed to bring better times at the Ronhof, but the Darmstadt game revealed what a complicated task they have taken on themselves.
Fürstner reveals that Azzouzi’s end was not something he could have predicted – but looking back, he doesn’t want to say much more. The former professional, as you can tell in conversation, would prefer not to talk about the past at all. Even when asked whether Azzouzi’s release surprised him, he evaded the question even after repeated inquiries. Fürstner just wants to look forward, but the earthquake in October still reverberates.
The restart under Haas and Fürstner failed and the remaining program before the winter break is tough
The mood between Zorniger and his players and also his own coaching team is said to have been tense. Azzouzi still stood by him – and had to leave too. “Rachid had an attitude when it came to Alex Zorniger, that was part of the discussions,” said Schwiewagner on Sky. “It’s true that there were different opinions.” That was “not the decisive point in the supervisory board’s deliberations,” but it is at least part of the explanation for the personnel decisions that shook Fürth. When Fürstner now goes into the analysis, he speaks of a “dent” and says about his own position as a first responder on the front line: “The task is undoubtedly challenging, but more and more routine is coming into it. Now we want to get the team back to showing stable performances.”
The only question is: is this true? Is it actually just a dent? Or has the lack of results and the separation of Zorniger and Azzouzi perhaps caused something to slip that could now take on a life of its own?
It’s not as if the club is without a leader, but in Azzouzi the club has thrown out an official who has given it a face for years. And then the restart under Haas and Fürstner failed at first, despite the 4:3 in the debut against Schalke. Fürth now faces 1. FC Köln on Saturday, followed by duels with Karlsruher SC, SSV Ulm, Hertha BSC, Hannover 96 and Hamburger SV. The rest of the program before the winter break is quite challenging, and the latest impressions don’t exactly offer a lot of cause for optimism. And that’s what matters in football – the feeling.
